Got a dumpsite?

[Nathan]

Does anyone have experiences with finding dumpsites. I would love to hear any fresh ideas. Currently we do most of our dumping at one of our LOL's property. She has a bunch of acreage with blackberries, so we just back the truck up and bury 'em. We got permission from her when we lost our old spot and told her if we could dump we would mow her for free from now on. The only problem is that she is convenient only about half of the week due to location.
We don't have any other customers with the same situation, so I wanted to know if anyone has done any wheeling and dealing with farmers or put out classified ads.

You can never have too many dump sites!!!

[thelawnguy]

What are you dumping?

My tree guy runs a perpetual ad for free wood chips.

Sometimes in the 'burbs you find a lot with a "clean fill wanted" sign out front-clean means no paper right?

Usually though I bite the bullet and pay the 75/ton tipping fee at the municipal landfill. Just add it to the cost of doing business.

[Nathan]

We operate in Washington state and have to bag almost everything. Therefore we collect grass very quickly. We do take stuff to yard waste recyclers when we have to but if we can save money why not!

[MOW ED]

I feel real lucky and I'm not rubbing it in but my city has a compost site 1 mile from home that is open 24hrs. They have 2 areas, 1 for grass and yard debris, 1 for trees and brush. The city composts all lawn waste and reuses the cooked stuff. The tub grinder comes a couple of times a year and grinds all the wood to shreads. I don't know what I'd do without it.

[CCLC]

Ask some local farmers that are close to you and look for wood recyclers. I have used farmers in the past but they don't like the quantity of leaves that dump. They said it was too much. We've started using a recycling place here in town. They are cheap ($2.00 per yard) and are closer than any of the farms.

[RYAN]

I got lucky This year and found out about a guy who owns a soil farm and lets all the lawn companies dump there for free. He then composts it and sells it as top soil. Works out for both of us I guess. If it weren't for that I would have to drive a lot farther and pay $10 a dump.

[Jim White]

Check with your local sand and gravel pit owners. The one's in my area (Western MA) allow us to dump for free as long as we dedicate our landscape supply business to them It works out pretty good because sometimes we're dropping off debris and picking up mulch or landscape rock for the next day's job. The only draw back is closing time. During the week they close at 5:00 on Saterday at 3:00, and Sunday their closed. Which means sometimes leaving the stuff in the truck and trailer over the weekend for a Monday morning drop.

[mowerguy]

I have a friend that has an acrage about 5 miles from my house. he lets me dump on the edge of the shelter belt and then we burn the pile. that is for branches. as for leaves in the fall. we back up in the the field and dump. we spread it out thin and then he will disk it in the spring it works great. try to find a farmer or someone who just live 5 or 10 miles out of town.

[Twotoros]

I too am in E.Wash-state . In the past I have dumped in farmers apple orchards but it is harder to find them willing as of late . This season I went to the recyclers at the landfill but that is an hour of my time I feel I don't receive compensation . I mulch 80% of the time . My customers would not be pleased to know this fact. I have lost customers for that reason. Too many like bagging . Too much of my competion bags, probably 75%. Bagging takes 25-50% longer when you include dumping. I try to educate my customers that mulching is good . They tune me out and look at me as if I were lazy. Next year the hammer drops. I will bag all that will pay more,otherwise it will be mulch city. I will lose 20% of my customer base if not more.
This issue is probably my biggest problem followed by low prices in my area . Help! Mr. Wizard, Help!

[Lawn Cruiser]

My city has a compost site at the landfill. Not only do they let me dump any compostable materials for free, they also give me credit for each of them and if I need any compost or wood chips each time I dump a load I get a stamp on a card and after 10 loads I get $10 off compost that I buy.

[Toddppm]

Sounds like you all have it pretty good. I give as much woodchips away as possible.I'll have an ad in the yp's next year in the mulch section for free woodchips. In last couple years the state has cracked down on the landfills, this one can't take chips, that one won't take brush it's ridiculous. I was dumping at a recycling place that makes mulch and topsoil for $30 load(12 ft stakebody) a new guy bought the place and changed it to $125 load! I mostly go to the county recyling center and pay $45/ton, and i keep a 30 yd dumpster to throw the wood, dirt etc. that they won't take.

[lawrence stone]

I don't handle much yard waste except for heavy thatch when using a power rake.

I dump for free at a quasi government agency that uses the organic matter to reclaim old strip mine areas.

[jaclawn]

Many of you fellows have it good. Around here, disposal costs $9 per cubic yard. Another place charges $35/ton with a one ton minimum.

You can also rent a 30 or 40 yard haul off dumpster that is a little (not much) more reasonable. Problem is that you can only have it onsite for 30 days.

I looked into starting a compost facility. Permits from the DEP are required. They have some VERY strict regulations to comply with. You have to turn your piles every so many days. They regulate how much of each type of material you can take. You cannot store anything within so many feet of the site. Very difficult and costly to comply.

IF you want to sell the resulting compost, you have to have a permit from the dept. of Ag. Again, many regulations to follow.

I think that yard waste is becoming as difficult to dispose of as asbestos.

[Nathan]

Some of you guys live in some very smartly run cities. Seattle and the surounding cities have a few very large composting services, actually one of them takes all of the yardwaste bins from an entire county. The problem is that many of them have been put under the microscope because people who want to move to areas around the recyclers are complaining about smell. Therefore the government goes to inspect the operation in order to shut the taxpayers up and fines the hell out of the operation. This kind of stuff has turned recycling from a great public service that was actually affordable into a rare resource that is becoming more and more expensive. The funny thing is that most of these people that are bitching about the smell are probably the same ones who fert. the hell out of their yards, won't allow mulching and send their yardwaste bin off every week without a thought.

Maybe it's time to get involved in a peoples initiative to allow these companies to operate in a less hostile atmosphere.

[Toddppm]

http://www.ticonderoga.com/press/flyer1.html
Just ran across this, exactly what i was talking about before. They are making it nearly impossible to get rid of any kind of green waste except through the county. This farm is about 10 miles from me in a very fast growing area, some developers must have county supervisors in their pocket.

[Redmowers]

We have a 100 acre woodlot so brush & the odd stuf is not a problem.I made a deal with a farm on the way to the woolot that would take all the stuff I chip.He wanted to start a mulch pile ,and I have no need to keep it. Our county has a compost facility but I haven't asked about lawn debris.

[BUSHMASTER]

check this out ... the other day i went to the iron scrap yard to sell some cast iron ... the man running the place saw a couple of bags on my truck... leaves ...grass.... and told me anytime i had some to drop it off ... see they need it to add to the ground the big magnet and grabber cranes dig deep rutts ,.............free dump ...cool

[Edited by BUSHMASTER on 11-19-2000 at 12:45 PM]

[guntruck]

Lucky for me my father has a five acre wooded lot where we dump. We flip it from time to time and plan to use it as compost mixed with soil to aid us when we get into installs.